According to <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver+police+board+seeks+change+ma…; target="”_blank”">an
article
in the Vancouver <i>Sun</i></a>, the mayor of Vancouver, BC is
concerned about the conflict between his chairing the city's police board and
his role in approving the police budget. He said, "It's difficult for

According to <a href="http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/town-council/council-resolution-…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Palm Beach <i>Daily News</i></a>, Florida law "forbids
government bodies from advocating for voters to vote yes or no in a
referendum election, and from spending funds to advertise for that

City Ethics' Carla Miller attended an international conference on public administration to present a paper on public corruption entitled <b>"Ethics, Elephants and Enigmas"</b> Shown here with panelists that Ms. Miller moderated on day 1 - October 23. The panel was themed: <b>"Management Issues"</b> with panel members from Bucharest, Romania, Bejing (2) and Shenyang, China.

Public service integrity always revolves around managing
conflicts of interest.<span>  </span>It entails
balancing personal interest and obligations of service to the community.<span>  </span>... Where you stand directly
influences what you see.<span>  </span>We see things
involving others with a clarity which escapes us when we have a
personal involvement. <span> </span>Not infrequently, we
do not see impropriety in our own actions, and cannot understand why

According to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527023033395045755664817617902…; target="”_blank”">an
article in today's <i>Wall Street Journal</i></a>, business organizations are arguing
that government employee unions have a conflict of interest that should
prevent them from supporting candidates for office. "Public-sector

Indirect benefits are one of the most problematic issues in government
ethics. Usually, indirect benefits relate to an official's
relationships, that is, where the official receives not a direct
financial benefit, but satisfaction or an indirect benefit from a financial benefit
going instead to a relative, employer, customer, or substantial political
supporter.<br>
<br>
But there are other indirect benefits, for example, benefits that go
not to a business that employs the official or his spouse, but to the

Meredith McGehee wrote<a href="http://www.clcblog.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=399…;
a thought-provoking Campaign Legal Center blog post yesterday</a> about
the upside of election time ethics attacks on opponents.<br>
<br>
"Current political thinking generally laments this development, arguing

Recusal is one of the least well understood aspects of government
ethics. Most people seem to think it is limited to abstaining on a vote
where you have a conflict of interest, and many ethics codes define it
that way, if they require recusal at all.<br>
<br>
But abstention is not sufficient for many reasons. One of them is at

Citizen indifference and lack of participation is the most damaging result of a
lack of trust in government officials. One reason is that a vicious
circle is created. When government officials are untrustworthy, and
especially when they use intimidation to create the sort of fear that
severely cuts into citizen participation, there are fewer people to
watch over them on behalf of the public. This makes government
officials feel more fearless and act more self-serving and more openly
intimidating. And so on.<br>
<br>

<br>
<br>
It's always nice to see clever, simple, effective forms of disclosure
that convey the most important information in the most readable,
quickly understandable way. Such a form of disclosure is suggested in <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1676108&quot; target="”_blank”">a
paper published a month ago by Justin Levitt</a>, a professor at Loyola